Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which development programmes will continue to be funded following the planned reduction of the official development assistance budget.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through. We are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money.

We will publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Annual Report & Accounts this summer.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) internal checks and (b) admission procedures of sponsor institutions currently subject to action plans in relation to international students from countries with higher rates of subsequent asylum claims.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s white paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published in May 2025, when her Department will publish the Red-Amber-Green basic compliance assessment ratings for student sponsor institutions.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of action plans in preventing compliance breaches by licensed sponsors of student visas.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will restrict the number of new international students sponsoring institutions currently subject to action plans can recruit.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Immigration White Paper, published 12 May, set out a wide range of reforms, including to student visas, further details of which will be set out in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increased tariff-free imports of ethanol under the US-UK trade agreement on (a) the viability of (i) Ensus UK and (ii) other domestic producers, (b) wider supply chains, (c) employment and (d) levels of future investment in (A) the Tees Valley and (B) other affected regions.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Since the announcement of the UK-US Economic Deal on 8 May, the Secretary of State and senior officials from the Department for Business and Trade have been meeting with representatives of the bioethanol sector in the Tees Valley and Humberside to discuss how the quota will impact their businesses.

In parallel, DBT officials are continuing to work closely with other government departments, including the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, to monitor and assess risks across the supply chain.

We will continue to work closely with the industry to understand the impacts of the trade deal and other pressures on the UK’s bioethanol sector.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the quantity of ethanol permitted to enter the UK tariff-free under the UK-US trade agreement on the UK bioethanol industry; and what steps his Department plans to take to help support domestic (a) producers and (b) supply chains.

Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

Since the announcement of the UK-US Economic Deal on 8 May, the Secretary of State and senior officials from the Department for Business and Trade have been meeting with representatives of the bioethanol sector in the Tees Valley and Humberside to discuss how the quota will impact their businesses.

In parallel, DBT officials are continuing to work closely with other government departments, including the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, to monitor and assess risks across the supply chain.

We will continue to work closely with the industry to understand the impacts of the trade deal and other pressures on the UK’s bioethanol sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure emergency access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy for patients in the (a) North East and (b) North West of England from 1 October 2025.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is committed to ensuring equitably accessible, high-quality services, for anyone who requires hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). This will be achieved through the commissioning of six geographically dispersed services across England. Three preferred providers have been identified to date, and a further procurement exercise will take place to identify the three remaining centres. NHS England is unable to provide details of timescales for the provider selection process for outstanding lots at this stage.

The contract for HBOT services, also known as recompression, was reviewed in 2024, as existing contract terms expired. This included an update of the service specification using the published full methods process, and a public consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of commissioned providers in England from eight to six centres. Further information on the service specification, the published full methods process, and the consultation is available, respectively, at the following three links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-services-all-ages-Service-specification-January-2025.pdf

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reviewing-hyperbaric-oxygen-services-consultation-guide/#:~:text=Background-,Background,Manual%20of%20Prescribed%20Specialised%20Services

The updates to the specification seek to ensure timely access to treatment for the most acutely unwell patients with the specification requiring:

• the delivery of care that is integrated with other services, including the emergency department, critical care, and other healthcare professionals as required; and
• facilities should be capable of receiving patients in any diagnostic category who may require advanced life support either immediately or during HBOT.

The geographical scope of the six services will ensure that there are no more than four hours travelling time by road from coastal locations, from the furthest borders, or between neighbouring commissioned HBOT centres, which is in line with good practice guidelines. The published Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment sets out an evaluation, including access to services and where appropriate action was taken to ensure fair access to any patient who requires this service. Further information on the Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2.1-Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-equality-and-health-inequalities-impact-assessment.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how NHS England assessed (a) geographic coverage and (b) patient travel time in its hyperbaric oxygen therapy commissioning criteria; and how this was factored into final decisions.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The contract for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) services, also known as recompression, was reviewed in 2024, as existing contract terms expired. This included an update of the service specification using the published full methods process, and a public consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of commissioned providers in England from eight to six centres. Further information on the service specification, the published full methods process, and the consultation is available, respectively, at the following three links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-services-all-ages-Service-specification-January-2025.pdf

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reviewing-hyperbaric-oxygen-services-consultation-guide/#:~:text=Background-,Background,Manual%20of%20Prescribed%20Specialised%20Services

The updates to the specification seek to ensure timely access to treatment for the most acutely unwell patients with the specification requiring:

- the delivery of care that is integrated with other services, including the emergency department, critical care, and other healthcare professionals as required; and

- facilities should be capable of receiving patients in any diagnostic category who may require advanced life support either immediately or during HBOT.

The geographical scope of the six services will ensure that there are no more than four hours travelling time by road from coastal locations, from the furthest borders, or between neighbouring commissioned HBOT centres, which is in line with good practice guidelines.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England conducted site visits to all hyperbaric oxygen therapy providers who submitted bids under the recent commissioning process.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Site visits were not conducted as part of the formal procurement and subsequent evaluation or scoring processes. All bids were evaluated solely on the written responses provided within the bid submissions, in accordance with the published criteria.

Informal site visits, or an informal virtual meeting in the case of one provider, were held with the eight existing providers during 2024. These were solely to support the Commissioner’s understanding of service delivery models. Any information gathered during these visits was external to the provider selection process and was not considered in the scoring of the submissions from bidders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions NHS England had with (a) the coastguard,(b) ambulance trusts and (c) relevant statutory bodies before finalising the list of contracted hyperbaric oxygen therapy providers.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Last year, NHS England undertook stakeholder testing and a public consultation on the revised service specification for hyperbaric oxygen services. The main impact of the proposals was the reconfiguration of the number of commissioned hyperbaric oxygen therapy centres in England, from eight centres to six.

The review was led by the chair of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinical Reference Group and the lead commissioner for the service, and was supported by a Specification Working Group (SWG). Membership of the SWG included a patient representative, clinical leads from current commissioned providers, consultants in public health, and members of the British Hyperbaric Association. Specialist advice was sought on relevant inter-dependent services including adult critical care, HM Coastguard, adult critical care transfer services, and children’s services.

Stakeholder testing on the revised service specification took place from 8 June 2024 to 25 June 2024. 14 responses were received, six of which were on behalf of organisations and eight from individuals. Public consultation was carried out from 13 September to 12 October 2024. A total of 923 individuals responded to the public consultation, from across all regions and devolved nations of the United Kingdom.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England carried out an impact assessment before deciding against commissioning hyperbaric oxygen therapy services in the (a) North East, (b) North West, (c) Midlands and (d) central London.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is committed to ensuring equitably accessible, high-quality services, for anyone who requires hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). This will be achieved through the commissioning of six geographically dispersed services across England. Three preferred providers have been identified to date, and a further procurement exercise will take place to identify the three remaining centres.

The contract for HBOT services, also known as recompression, was reviewed in 2024, as existing contract terms expired. This included an update of the service specification using the published full methods process, and a public consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of commissioned providers in England from eight to six centres. Further information on the service specification, the published full methods process, and the consultation is available, respectively, at the following three links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-services-all-ages-Service-specification-January-2025.pdf

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reviewing-hyperbaric-oxygen-services-consultation-guide/#:~:text=Background-,Background,Manual%20of%20Prescribed%20Specialised%20Services

The updates to the specification seek to ensure timely access to treatment for the most acutely unwell patients with the specification requiring:

• the delivery of care that is integrated with other services, including the emergency department, critical care, and other healthcare professionals as required; and
• facilities should be capable of receiving patients in any diagnostic category who may require advanced life support either immediately or during HBOT.

The geographical scope of the six services will ensure that there are no more than four hours travelling time by road from coastal locations, from the furthest borders, or between neighbouring commissioned HBOT centres, which is in line with good practice guidelines. The published Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment sets out an evaluation, including access to services and where appropriate action was taken to ensure fair access to any patient who requires this service. Further information on the Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2.1-Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-equality-and-health-inequalities-impact-assessment.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason NHS England awarded only three contracts for the provision of hyperbaric oxygen therapy services following its most recent tendering process.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is committed to ensuring equitably accessible, high-quality services, for anyone who requires hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). This will be achieved through the commissioning of six geographically dispersed services across England. Three preferred providers have been identified to date, and a further procurement exercise will take place to identify the three remaining centres.

The contract for HBOT services, also known as recompression, was reviewed in 2024, as existing contract terms expired. This included an update of the service specification using the published full methods process, and a public consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of commissioned providers in England from eight to six centres. Further information on the service specification, the published full methods process, and the consultation is available, respectively, at the following three links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-services-all-ages-Service-specification-January-2025.pdf

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/reviewing-hyperbaric-oxygen-services-consultation-guide/#:~:text=Background-,Background,Manual%20of%20Prescribed%20Specialised%20Services

The updates to the specification seek to ensure timely access to treatment for the most acutely unwell patients with the specification requiring:

• the delivery of care that is integrated with other services, including the emergency department, critical care, and other healthcare professionals as required; and
• facilities should be capable of receiving patients in any diagnostic category who may require advanced life support either immediately or during HBOT.

The geographical scope of the six services will ensure that there are no more than four hours travelling time by road from coastal locations, from the furthest borders, or between neighbouring commissioned HBOT centres, which is in line with good practice guidelines.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take make an assessment of the potential impact of NHS England's decision to reduce the number of contracted hyperbaric oxygen therapy centres on emergency care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department is content with the assessments NHS England conducted regarding this procurement. The Equality and Health Inequalities Impact Assessment for this procurement is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2.1-Hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-equality-and-health-inequalities-impact-assessment.pdf

NHS England is committed to ensuring equitably accessible, high-quality services for anyone who requires hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). This will be achieved through the commissioning of 6 geographically dispersed services across England. Three preferred providers have been identified to date, and a further procurement exercise will take place to identify the three remaining centres.

The contract for HBOT services (“recompression”) was reviewed in 2024, as existing contract terms expired. This included an update of the service specification using the published full methods process and public consultation on the proposal to reduce the number of commissioned providers in England from eight to six centres. The updates to the specification seek to ensure timely access to treatment for the most acutely unwell patients with the specification requiring: the delivery of care that is integrated with other services including the emergency department, critical care, and other healthcare professionals as required; and facilities should be capable of receiving patients in any diagnostic category who may require advanced life support either immediately or during HBOT.

The geographical scope of the six services will ensure that there are no more than four hours travelling time by road from coastal locations, furthest borders or between neighbouring commissioned HBOT centres; this is in line with good practice guidelines.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) appeal and (b) review mechanism is available to hyperbaric oxygen therapy providers who wish to challenge the outcome of the recent NHS England commissioning process.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/the-provider-selection-regime-statutory-guidance/#reviewing-decisions-during-the-standstill-period

This describes the process for making a representation to seek a review of the decision made.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent steps her Department has taken to (a) strengthen electoral integrity and (b) tackle voter fraud.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

This Government is committed to strengthening the UK’s democracy and upholding the integrity of elections. It has already taken steps in this area including the work undertaken to review and reform the voter identification policy, successfully passing legislation which allows use of the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card as identification at polling stations.

The Government will be setting out its approach to elections and electoral reform for this Parliament in an overall Government Strategy for Elections, to be published later this year, where it will set out plans for further strengthening the integrity of elections and encouraging participation in democracy.

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Found: _NC7 Matt Vickers Saqib Bhatti .

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Found: Letter dated 10/06/2025 from Diana Johnson MP to Matt Vickers MP regarding the government amendments

Found: Letter dated 10/06/2025 from Diana Johnson MP to Matt Vickers MP regarding the government amendments

Found: Letter dated 10/06/2025 from Diana Johnson MP to Matt Vickers MP regarding the government amendments

Found: Letter dated 10/06/2025 from Diana Johnson MP to Matt Vickers MP regarding the government amendments